The view of the terrible aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina brings to mind an often disregarded fact. In July of 1972 the Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima shed tears on numerous occasions in that city. Many were reluctant to believe in the miracle. So Archbishop Philip Hannan had the statue examined by experts, who found no holes or devices that could simulate tears [see Tears, A Miraculous Warning]. A tear of Our Lady was also collected and sent to be examined under a microscope by scientists, who affirmed it was a human tear.

Our Lady of Fatima wept in New Orleans in 1972. Below, a close-up

What did these miraculous tears signify? Many Catholics believed that it was a warning from Our Lady for the faithful, confirming her message to three shepherd children at Fatima in 1917. She announced the terrible chastisements that would scourge the world if man did not abandon their bad customs, embrace the true Catholic faith, and offer prayer and reparation. Very few heeded her words.

Instead of this requested reform of customs, we unfortunately witnessed the Church “adapting herself to the modern world.” Such adaptation was the work of Vatican II.

One of the multiple consequences of such adaptation was that the clergy and religious orders adopted the very same customs Our Lady came to reprimand. Cassocks and habits were abandoned; the rules were set aside; innumerable religious men and women left their monasteries and convents to rent apartments in order to be immersed in the world.

What can be said about their moral behavior? The scandals were - and are - profuse. The vow of chastity was forgotten to such a degree that, beyond the numerous sins of impurity committed, we now witness scandals against nature carried out by religious and clergy: feminist and lesbian nuns, homosexual and pedophile priests

So, in view of this general disregard of her words at Fatima, Our Lady worked a miracle and wept at New Orleans, forewarning mankind once again of the catastrophe that was near.

But the miraculous tears of Our Lady did not move the errant Catholic world. Things became much worse in the Church and society. Morals and customs further degenerated, with homosexuals clamoring for “rights” to marriage and the adoption of children. Homosexuality became commonplace in many seminaries, and pedophilia so frequent in the clergy that Prelates in high positions covered up such crimes as general policy.

There was even an audacious attempt in June 2000 to definitively silence Our Lady’s warning of a coming chastisement, led by Cardinal Angelo Sodano and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who made a disputable interpretation of the Third Secret and declared the Fatima message “part of the past.” This, despite the fact that Russia has not converted and Communism did not die. [See The Progressivist Challenge to Fatima and Uruguay Becomes Another Communist Country.

Fires break out in the waters of flooded New Orleans AP Photo

The waters prevented the homosexual festival, scheduled for August 31 Reuters Photo

And so we come to August 2005. This time, Our Lady could no longer hold back the hand of her Son, already “so grievously offended.” There were no more warnings for this city of both great predilection and sin. God sent Hurricane Katrina, which has left in its aftermath death, destruction and chaos. The scenes of rows of houses underwater, stranded persons begging to be rescued, floating dead bodies in snake-infested waters, areas at the mercy of armed looters were the apocalyptic scenes of thirst and famine that two weeks ago we could not believe would ever happen in our own country.

Will Katrina be the first of many such natural disasters on our terrain? The experts are certainly predicting more. In early August, Tropical Storm Risk, a London-based consortium of scientists, predicted 22 tropical storms in the Caribbean and tropical North Atlantic during the six-month June-November season, the most ever recorded and more than twice the average annual tally since records began in 1851. Seven of these storms were predicted to strike the United States. (“Brace for more Katrinas, say experts,” USAToay.com, August 30, 2005.)

The predictions are made with cold, scientific precision. Blame is placed on doubtful theories of global warming. Blame is also freely spilled in the handling of the Katrina aftermath on political leaders, FEMA, Homeland Securities, racism, and anyone or anything else in the line of fire. What is absent is a word about sin and its consequences. Almost no one talks about God, chastisement for sin, and the need to change one’s life.

That the media are insensible to the supernatural should come as no great surprise. One would expect, however, to find Church authorities warning mankind that the hand of God can be stern against hardened and impenitent world. Perhaps some Bishops would call Hurricane Katrina an act of God, and point out that it destroyed New Orleans several days before “Southern Decadence,” an annual homosexual party slated to draw 100,000 revelers in a weeklong celebration of this sin against nature. Perhaps some priests would remember the tears of Our Lady in New Orleans, and remind the Catholic faithful that what happened in New Orleans can be the beginning of a chastisement that may come for all of us. So far, I don’t know of many Bishops - if any - or Priests who has publicly taken this position.

It would seem that the time of warnings is over and we are entering the days of chastisement Our Lady predicted at Fatima.